Youth empowerment program with the collaboration of Institute of Hotel Management

This summer the Laksh Foundation took initiative with the youth of Manger and Silakari Villages to encourage them towards a skills development course. The Laksh Foundation collaborated with the ‘Institute of Hotel Management’, Faridabad, Haryana for the skills development course. The principal of the institute invited us to visit the institute and he explained the project, ‘Hunar Se Rojgar’. The ‘Ministry of Tourism’ launched this special programme in 2009-2010. It is fully funded for the creation of employable skills amongst youth belonging to economically weaker sections of the society. This initiative was taken to bridge the gap of skilled manpower in the hospitality sector. Under this scheme, a person seeking admission to the programme should be a minimum requirement of eighth pass and in the age group of 18 to 28. The trainees of the 6-week ‘food and beverage service’ and 8-week ‘food production’ courses are paid Rs.1500/- and Rs.2000/- each, respectively. We motivated ten boys for the hospitality course and two girls for the cooking course. The trainees attended the institute for a six week course which they enjoyed. Additionally, throughout the training programme we saw tremendous changes in their personalities.

On September 19th 2014, the trainees received their certificates from the institute, which they were happy with. The institute offered them one more course for six months, ‘waiter cum-houseman’. They were all excited to get admission here. Furthermore, the Laksh Foundation is trying to reach more people and support them through similar types of programme. There were 35 trainees from different NGOs and institutions, who began training for the house keeping course. However, one of the trainees (Mr.Ramesh) who was sent by the Laksh Foundation scored the highest mark of 88/100 in all of them.